Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of eleven books.  She is also co-host of “Left, Right & Center”, public radio’s popular political roundtable program.

 

Huffington, who was once a Republican, changed political affiliation in the late 1990s.  Huffington’s shift in political ideology was purportedly inspired by her “Left, Right & Center” segment colleague, Robert Scheer, her friend Al Franken, and her belief that the Republican Party does not do enough to help the “less fortunate”.  Huffington describes herself as a “former right-winger who has evolved into a compassionate and progressive populist”.  In recent years, she has moved  closer to the Democratic party.  Huffington was a panel speaker during the 2005 California Democratic Party State Convention, held in Los Angeles.  She also spoke at the 2004 College Democrats of America Convention in Boston, which was held in conjunction with the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

 

Huffington was an independent candidate to replace California Governor Gray Davis in the 2003 recall election but dropped out of the race on September 30, 2003 to instead try to get the recall defeated.  Though she failed to stop the recall, Huffington’s name still appeared on the ballot and she placed 5th in a field of 135 candidates, capturing 0.6% of the votes.

 

Prior to The Huffington Post, Huffington hosted a web site called Arianna.com.  Her first foray into the Internet was a web site call Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton.

 

In 2006, she was named to “The Time 100”, Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

 

Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics.  At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.  Her latest book is On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work, and Life.

 

She serves on several boards that promote community solutions to social problems, including “A Place Call Home”, which works with at-risk children in South Central Los Angeles.

 

Arianna Huffington lives in Los Angeles with her two daughters.